Elon Musk, Chief Executive of Tesla and SpaceX, is being sued for $258 billion for allegedly creating a “pyramid scheme” to promote the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
In the complaint filed in the Southern District Court of New York, plaintiff Keith Johnson accused Musk and his companies Tesla and SpaceX of being part of an illegal blackmail scheme to drive up the price of Dogecoin.
“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value,” Johnson said in his complaint.
Claiming to have been defrauded with the “Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme”, Johnson demanded $ 86 billion and $ 172 billion in compensation for his losses.
Johnson also asked for an injunction to prevent Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin, and a declaration that trading Dogecoin constitutes gambling under US and New York law.
A pyramid scheme or pyramid selling system is a scam in which a participant is recruited into the system by offering assets or money and promising to earn assets or money if they find other participants. This method is also popularly known as “Ponzi scheme”.
